118
by Jamoo34
Summary: The Dark Tournament behind them, the gang returns home only to find yet another mission waiting for them. Set on finding a pair of demon siblings that want to open a portal to the Makai the gang moves out and into a series of discoveries that are going to change them for the rest of their lives. AU, WIP, OCs, Slash, Canon/OC,
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything really but in essence Mikai, Senkai, Carden, and Kubo. Cat owns Sotto; The A owns Asuka; The Last J owns Reijii; Mikey owns Lei; and Nicole owns Yuzu. Damn…I've just realized how many characters I really don't own…oh well, they're still my girls and I love 'em!

**Theme:** '_Falling for the First Time_'-Bare Naked Ladies

For Heather. 

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><p>"Booooring."<p>

Yawning, Yusuke laid down on the school's rooftop and stared up at the bright blue sky hundreds of miles above him. A few bright white clouds passed by, never once covering the sun, but Yusuke didn't bother to try and turn them into anything out of the ordinary, nah he had better things to worry about then cloud watch. Well…not at the exact moment but there were a few things running through his head that demanded his full attention.

One being the biggest issue his teammate was dealing with: Kuwabara's powers had seemingly…disappeared.

They had just vanished after his last fight during the Dark Tournament, leaving his best friend without any kind of defense; Genkai said that Kuwabara had sealed his powers away after exerting so much during the fight with Elder Toguro. That didn't seem to stop the carrot-top, no just the other day when Yusuke had managed to get himself into a fight outside of school grounds Kuwabara had run in, defenseless. His partner could always use his fists, but without any kind of spirit energy, healing would be difficult. Yusuke was grateful, however, if Kuwabara had been mortally wounded Yusuke never would have forgiven himself; he didn't need to relive Kuwabara's famous death scene from the Dark Tournament.

Sitting up, Yusuke got to his feet and stretched his arms over his head. Class could and would go on without him, there wasn't a point in staying for lessons when there were demons running around the human realm.

_School sucks anyway._

"Yusuke," a female voice said.

He jumped a bit at the sudden voice, and looked over his shoulder and saw Botan sitting on top of the boiler room's rooftop which was a bit higher up from where he stood. She looked down at him with a smile on her face, clad in his high school's light blue uniform. "Hey Yusuke, Koenma has a mission for you to go out on." She hopped down off of the rooftop and landed beside the black haired boy.

"Great, what now?" Yusuke rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. "What demon does he want me to knock out or blow up 'cause I'm on a schedule here."

Botan waved her right hand a bit, dismissing Yusuke's attitude. "Relax Yusuke it's just a search and destroy mission. There's a demon by the name of Kubo running around here in this city and Koenma wants you to hunt him down, nothing too big see?"

Yusuke looked away from the blue haired girl and began advancing towards the staircase. "Then why can't he send a rookie out to do it?"

"He requested _you_."

Sighing, Yusuke glanced skyward once more and watched as a rather large cloud passed over the both of them. It reminded Yusuke of a rabbit. "As always. Anyways, how long do I have to finish this?"

"A month," Botan giggled and approached the teen, "but I doubt it'll take you that long, Yusuke. I haven't been able to detect his energy signal just yet, but I'm sure if you run around town for a while with your energy spiked he'll find you."

Yusuke couldn't help but grin. Finally a fight, away from all of this mess and place he could get out and do what he was good at. "Just all I need!" He lifted his hand and punched his right hand into his left palm. "I'm outta here!"

Still grinning, the dark haired teen entered the stairwell and began to descend the staircase when he felt Botan's hand rest on his shoulder. He turned around to face her, having to look up at her since she stood on the stairs above the ones he was on. She frowned and removed her hand, bringing it up to her chest.

"Wait Yusuke! What about sch—"

"Yusuke!" another female voice rang out through the empty stairwell. Said boy winced at the sound of that oh so familiar voice and whirled to see Keiko standing at the bottom of the staircase with narrowed eyes and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Are you leaving school _again_, Yusuke?" Keiko asked in a firm tone of voice. "You're mother worked really hard to get you back in, you can't just leave for the rest of the day."

"I'll be back," he lied with a slight smile on his face. "I'm just going out for a few, I'll come right back when I finish running this mission."

She tilted her head up a bit. "I don't believe you, Yusuke. You _never_ come back when you leave."

Yusuke removed his hands from his pockets and ran his fingers through his hair. He was never good at lying to Keiko, she knew him too well. "Aw come on Keiko I have a mission to finish! I'll stay all day tomorrow!"

Silence entered stairwell as Yusuke stared at Keiko, and her at him. Botan remained forgotten in the background as the lifelong friends looked over at one another, but the poor boy couldn't tell what was on Keiko's mind though he wished he could. She was harder to read then any book he had ever come across, harder to understand then any foreign language he had heard muttered while walking the streets. Were all women like this?

"Fine." The brown haired girl turned her head to the right. "I'll see you tomorrow, Yusuke."

And with that, the girl he had known for years walked away, back down the stairs without a passing glance. He rolled his eyes, great, now she was mad at him. Didn't she understand the whole Spirit World duty thing, especially now since she had gone with them to the Dark Tournament?

"Come on Botan, let's get out of here."

The bell for lunch break rang as Yusuke walked down the stairs and to the first floor of the school, Botan following hot on his heels. He marched through the usual lunch crowd, doing his best to stay low so Kuwabara would see him and come with, after all the taller boy had lost his powers and Yusuke had no desire to have someone latch on to him when there was a chance of the other person getting hurt. Thankfully he managed to get through the crowd without anyone pissing him off or Kuwabara finding him, and once he stepped through the school's gates, he felt better. Now that he was out of the hell hole—

"Yusuke!"

He perked at _that_ female voice, and whirled around; damn, women were just calling his name all over the place. Botan mimicked his action and both spotted a young woman speeding towards the both of them. He sighed when he saw who it was, was everyone after him today? She came to a stop when she neared and straightened her school uniform, the colors different from the one Keiko wore.

"Skippin' school again?" the girl said with a smirk. "Where you headin' off to?"

"None of your business, Mikai," Yusuke answered as he, once again, placed his hands in his pockets.

The smile fell from the young girl's face, replaced by a deep frown. "_Fine_ I was just coming by to see Kuwabara, he has my English notes. You still up for later?"

"Yeah, yeah." Yusuke nodded his head. He would think about hanging out with friends later when the demon was dead and up for judgment. "I haven't seen Kuwabara, I don't know where he is."

"Jeez," she flinched at his tone, "chill Yusuke. Fine, I'll see you later then."

The young woman glanced over at Yusuke one last time before strolling away and over to the school where he had come from. His words repeated in his head, and rather than walking away he looked over to where Mikai had gone and held back a laugh; she stood out so much in her school uniform.

"Who was that, Yusuke?" Botan tagged along and watched as Mikai disappeared into the crowd of students.

"Mikai." Yusuke removed his attention from her and back to the sidewalk ahead. "I've known her for a year or so now…she goes to some all girl's school not too far from here."

He had met her before the whole 'jumping in front of a moving car to save a kid's life' and had remained his friend since then without question of his long absence. Ever since his return from the Dark Tournament he and Kuwabara had hung around her, the black haired teen discovered that it was nice having a friend outside of the Spirit World and the connections is brought with it.

But now was not the time for flashbacks.

"Come on Botan let's get outta here before Kuwabara shows up."

"Oh!" The reaper broke out of her thought, whatever it was, and cleared her throat. "Right!"

XxX

Three hours of walking around, pushing his spirit energy up, and _nothing_ had come to pass. No energy single, no messages from Spirit World, no _nothing_. Seeing no point, Yusuke asked Botan to head back and tell Koenma, and as soon as she left, he made a beeline for the more populated part of the downtown area for well-earned lunch break.

"Urameshi! Hey Urameshi!"

He froze, and growled. Why couldn't people just leave him alone today? First Botan, then Keiko, then Mikai and now…Cursing his luck he whirled and spotted Kuwabara running towards him with his black school bag tucked underneath his right arm. Botan hadn't let him in on what was happening had she?

Kuwabara reached his partner and took a sharp breath inwards. "Hey you haven't seen Mikai around have you?"

Yusuke cocked a brow, random, but at least he wasn't asking about school. "She was looking for you earlier, but I didn't know where you were. Why?"

After looking around, he bent down a bit. "I lost that notebook of English notes she gave me," he whispered. "She wants it back for her upcoming English class and she'll kill me if she finds out that I lost it!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" Yusuke laughed, and watched as Kuwabara threw his hands up in the air.

"Talk to her, I don't know! All I know is that she's gonna _kill_ me, Urameshi! Just…hey," Kuwabara stopped mid-sentence and looked at his once rival, "you weren't in class today, why not?"

"I just wanted a break that's all." Yusuke turned his head away from Kuwabara, casting his attention on a far off building. Ugh, Kuwabara was starting to read him like a book. "You shouldn't worry too much about Mikai needing her notes, she's not in school often enough to take tests anyway."

Kuwabara's shoulders drooped and he sighed. "Well I guess you're right…hopefully she doesn't find me. Where are you off to?"

"I'm gettin' something to eat, wanna come?"

A smile came over Kuwabara's face. "Sure!"

Just as the two teenage boys departed for a local eatery, a large group of screaming and panicked people ran by them, each one as white as a ghost and their eyes wide. No matter how hard he strained to make out what the passing people were saying, Yusuke couldn't translate a word of it. An abrupt gust of warm wind blew over the both of them, nearly knocking Kuwabara over. The sheer amount of demon energy swirling in the air forced a chilling shiver down Yusuke's spine and forced goose bumps to form on his arms; this wasn't any ordinary wind. Was this the work of that Kubo demon?

"Dammit!" Yusuke turned around and took off as fast as he could in the opposite direction of where the panicked people had come from, and after he recovered, Kuwabara took off right behind him.

After a five mile long run, Yusuke came across what remained of a small, locally owned store: nothing but a crater in the ground, the cement itself searing enough so that a black color greeted Yusuke's eyes. It appeared as if the store had just been _lifted _out of the ground but where had the people gone? Did they disappear as well, or had they been killed?

"Dammit where is he?" Yusuke whispered as his brown eyes scanned the area.

No matter how hard he searched for something out of the ordinary, he found nothing. It was almost as if nothing had happened at all, as if the store hadn't been there in the first place. After a good five minute had passed, a crowd of curious humans peaked out of their hiding places and inched towards the hole. The Spirit Detective couldn't feel anything special, just the energy tags of the human around him, nothing that would reveal the location of a demon. Had he just vanished?

Kuwabara ran over to Yusuke's side, panting. "What happened, Urameshi?"

"I…don't know." Yusuke blinked and shook his head.

_But I'm gonna find out._

XxX

Koenma groaned and sat back in his seat, piles of paperwork sitting in front of him. There was no way he could get through every single piece of paperwork within the next hour, not with everything that was going on in the human realm anyway. Rubbing his temples, he closed his eyes.

"You can do this, Koenma, its just paperwork!" he said aloud. "You made it through the Dark Tournament, you can make it through a few stacks of work! Yes!" He removed his hands from his head and shook a fist towards the ceiling. "I can do this! I can—"

"Koenma?"

Breaking out of his positive state, he flopped back down in his seat and cleared his throat as his eyes landed on a rather shocked Kurama. "Oh, Kurama I wasn't expecting you to come so early…"

"I'm never late."

Coughing aloud, Koenma closed his eyes for a long minute to regain himself and then reopened them. "Well…yes Kurama I want you and Hiei to work on a mission with Yusuke. It seems that there is a demon running around the human realm that has caused a great deal of trouble by the name of Kubo. I want you to help Yusuke track this demon down before he creates anymore damage to the human world and the people there. Understood?"

"Yes." Kurama nodded his head. "Do you have an energy signature?"

"Unfortunately, no." Koenma leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist. "I wasn't able to track Kubo's signature as he passed through the Makai barrier, and he's hiding his energy now."

"I understand. May I ask why he's a threat?"

Koenma closed his eyes for a long minute, leave it up to Kurama to ask the tough questions up front. "The Spirit World believes that he has plans and the ability to open a portal to the Makai. In one month's time he will rip open a hole in the fabric between the human world and the Makai using the energy he has collected over the past fifty years, but I'm not clear on _how_ he plans to do so. I need you and the others to find him and reveal his plans before he opens that portal."

Kurama gave a respectful bow, and smiled. "All right, I'll explain to the others. We'll get it on right away, Koenma you don't have anything to worry about."

"Thank you, Kurama." Koenma gave a sigh of relief and leaned back against his large office chair.

The redhead turned on his heel and started heading out of the door and back to the human world when the memory of an earlier conversation came to mind. Reopening his eyes, Koenma cleared his throat.

"Oh, Kurama!"

Said man stopped in his tracks and turned around just a bit, enough so that his eyes could meet with the Prince of Otherworld.

"I've been meaning to ask you something. Do you know a demon by the name of Senkai?"

"No." Kurama shook his head, his face becoming crestfallen. "It sounds vaguely familiar but I can't recall at this exact moment. Why?"

"Well…" Koenma shifted his eyes from right to left, looking for anyone or anything that wasn't supposed to be in the room at the time. He had made a mental note a few days ago to reveal the mention of Senkai to Yusuke and the others, but now seemed like a good time since he was speaking face-to-face, _alone_ with Kurama. "A few days ago a spike of demon energy was detected in your city, I thought it might have something to do with Kubo, but this energy spike stayed around long enough for me to tag it."

"And?" Kurama raised a brow.

"We have it on file as belonging to a demon that died twenty years or so ago by the name of Senkai. Now it might have something to do with Kubo, I'm not entirely sure I just wanted to throw the name out there in case you hear it while searching for Kubo." Koenma relaxed now that he had gotten rid of his mental note, and inhaled through his nose.

"All right, I will be sure to keep that in mind." Kurama's smile returned to his face, a gesture that brought a slight smirk to Koenma's. "Have a good day Koenma."

"You too, Kurama!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything really but in essence Mikai, Senkai, Carden, and Kubo. Cat owns Sotto; The A owns Asuka; The Last J owns Reijii; Mikey owns Lei; and Nicole owns Yuzu. Damn…I've just realized how many characters I really don't own…oh well, they're still my girls and I love 'em!

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><p>After the disappearing shop trick, Yusuke and Kuwabara left to get something to eat and then went off to the arcade to blow off some steam. Yusuke, of course, kept his spirit energy raised at all times and thanked whatever god that had taken away Kuwabara's powers that he had picked such a time to do so. The poor carrot-top didn't even feel the pike in is energy, and went on blissfully unaware which was good seeing how Yusuke didn't want to drag Kuwabara into the middle of the mission. After beating Kuwabara in a few rounds of Goblin City, the two said their goodbyes and headed for home.<p>

Figuring that there wasn't a point in looking around anymore, Yusuke flopped down in bed and caught up on sleep, something that had proved rather hard since returning from the Dark Tournament, what with nightmares and all. His nightmares had been improving with every passing night, but his body was still recovering from such a strain and the impossible amount of stress that came with it. After a restless sleep, he sat up in bed and glanced at the time; 3:34 P.M. he had missed school. Oh well. With nothing else to do, Yusuke showered, dressed in casual wear and left his and his mother's apartment, doing his best not to catch her attention.

Slipping out into the world, Yusuke went back downtown and mingled with the crowd while heading down to another fast food place. True he had broken his promise to Keiko, but at least it hadn't been on purpose like the last time…

As Yusuke walked down the busy sidewalk, he picked up on Kurama's energy tag. He stopped walking, and moved to the side while looking back and forth for the redhead; why was his energy spiked so high? Was he in trouble? The crowd passed by, each person as busy as the one before, and after a few moments Yusuke spotted Kurama amongst the mass of humans.

"Kurama!" Yusuke called with a smile crossing his features. "Hey Kurama!"

The fox demon glanced over at the young man, and broke away from the group of people. "Hello Yusuke, I've been looking for you."

"Really?" One of Yusuke's brows rose to his hairline. "Why?"

"Well I wanted to—"

"Urameshi!"

Yusuke groaned: Kuwabara. Turning his head back towards the crowd, he spotted the taller boy emerging from the group of people with his teeth clenched and his eyes narrowed. "Where have you been, Urameshi? I thought you were gonna show up for class today."

"I slept in!" Yusuke protested as he returned Kuwabara's glare. "Gimmie a break already! It's not like I missed anything important!"

"'Sides the English test," Kuwabara countered as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Speakin' of which I never returned Mikai's notes and she'll—"

Wait a minute…Mikai?

"_You still up for later?"_

Oh shit Mikai! Yusuke threw his hands up and groaned. How could he forget that he and Mikai were supposed to head to his school's track? "Aw man!" he said aloud as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I completely forgot that I was supposed to meet up with Mikai! I was so busy with this mission—"

"Mission?" Kuwabara blinked, confused. "Hey! When do you get a mission!? Why didn't you tell me!?"

The incident of missing his meeting with Mikai would have to come later, there were more important things to worry about at the moment. "Because it was assigned to _me_," Yusuke answered with a pointed glare in Kuwabara's direction.

"As well as I," Kurama said with a smile. "I was asked by Koenma to help you yesterday, Yusuke."

"What?!" Yusuke's jaw dropped a bit. What the hell happened to 'he requested you!' bull? Did Koenma doubt that he could do it? "Great, so his Hiei in on his too?"

Kurama suppressed a laugh at Yusuke's reaction, and instead cleared his throat. "Well I haven't gotten around to telling him just yet, I was hoping to meet up with you and Kuwabara to discuss the matter further."

"Yeah too bad no one told _me _about it," Kuwabara hissed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Leave it to Urameshi to leave me outta something!"

Growling, the black haired man turned around to his best friend. "Hey I had a good reason! Remember that—"

"I've been looking all over for you, Yusuke."

Perking at the sudden female voice, Yusuke glanced over his shoulder and saw Mikai standing in few feet in behind him with her arms crossed over her chest and her lower lip stuck out in a pout. Now he was in trouble; his mind searched for some kind of excuse for his absence the night before, one that didn't involve the Spirit World or fighting off demons.

"Uh hey Mikai!" Yusuke gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head as she approached. "Sorry 'bout last night, I was…uh…"

"Yeah, whatever." She glared up at him but as he studied her glare, he saw something deep within it, something he couldn't decipher. "Anyways," she moved her right hand, dismissing him, "Kuwabara, do you have my English notes?"

So now she was just going to blow him off? He stood still as she averted her attention to Kuwabara, biting the inside of his cheek. Aw man why did she have to ignore him like that? She knew that he couldn't stand being given the cold shoulder!

Kuwabara averted his gaze from hers. "Uhhh. No, you see Mikai it's a really funny story! I was busy cleaning out my room and I must have tossed the notes while sorting through my _own_ notes!"

Yusuke could see Mikai losing more and more of her patience the more Kuwabara spoke, but rather than bite his head off she gripped her fists at her side. He held back a laugh, it wasn't every day Mikai lost her temper over something, and he had yet to see what the outcome of her low burning temper would bring. But just as she looked like she was about to lose it, she forced a smile.

"Its fine, I've had those notes since I was in your grade last year so I don't need them that badly," she said, her knuckles growing white. "I'm sure Yusuke will get along without them, after all he was set to borrow them after you."

This was news to Yusuke. Jumping up a bit, he turned to his partner. "You were supposed to get those things to me?! How the hell did you manage to lose them?"

"It was an accident!" Kuwabara protested while glaring down at the shorter black haired boy. "Damn everyone's jumpin' all over me for losin' somethin', it's not like you haven't lost somethin' important before!"

"Yusuke," Kurama interjected with a slight smile on his face, "you could always borrow my English notes if you needed them that badly."

"Ha!" Kuwabara laughed and pointed to Yusuke. "See someone solved the problem now get off of my back!" Folding his arms over his chest, Kuwabara looked away from Yusuke and Mikai. "Jeez gettin' on my back over freakin' notes," he muttered.

With the fight over, Yusuke moved his attention away from Kuwabara and back over to Mikai who had her eyes locked on Kurama. The redhead, of course, wasn't staring back at her, instead it appeared as if he were daydreaming as he gazed out towards the crowd where he had emerged from. Yusuke mentally slapped himself, how could he forget that Mikai and Kurama didn't know one another?

"Mikai this is Shuuichi," Yusuke said as he moved his right hand from her to him, "and Shuuichi this is Mikai."

"Hello, Mikai," Kurama said as he stretched out his right hand to her.

Mikai smiled from ear-to-ear as she followed his suit and extended her left hand. "It's nice to meet you, Shuuichi. I've heard good things about you from Meiou high, it's nice to put a face to the name."

Their hands met in a friendly handshake that had Yusuke raising an eyebrow. How did they know one another? Mikai had never mentioned anything about Shuuichi before, then again he had never brought the human genius up in a conversation.

"And it's nice to have a face to the runner, Mikai Aldorn," Kurama replied with a polite smile. "I am sorry to hear about you getting kicked off of the track team, from what I heard you were a very skilled runner."

"Yeah…" She sighed while drawing her hand away from his. "I _was_."

"Wait, wait," Yusuke waved his hands back and forth as he turned to the female, "Mikai, you were on the track team? Since when?"

"Like I said, I was up until two months ago." Mikai placed her hands on her hips. She glanced down at the watch on her right wrist and raised her brows. "I gotta go you guys, it was nice meeting you. Shuuichi! I hope I get to see more of you!" She turned and started to run away from the group when she stopped, and looked over her shoulder. "Oh Yusuke, you'd better show up tonight! Don't disappoint me again!"

"Right!" Yusuke waved his right hand and waited until she was out of sight. Hell at least she wanted to spend time with him after being stood up last night. "Come on guys, let's get moving so we can find this damn demon already."

"What demon!?" Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke's collar, bringing the smaller man up to his eye level. "You'd better start explainin' Urameshi!"

Kurama intervened and separated the two. "Don't worry we will! Let's go and get Hiei so the both of you know what's going on."

"Fine!" Kuwabara turned his nose up. "Let's find Hiei and get this done and over with but I still get an explanation for why you didn't tell me Urameshi!"

"Yeah, yeah." Yusuke smoothed out the wrinkles on his jacket and followed the group was Kurama tracked Hiei's energy signal, something easier for him than anyone else thanks to his connection with the demon.

"_Like I said, I was up until two months ago."_

Dammit, why hadn't she confessed anything about it to him? He had been hanging around with her a little over two months ago, excluding the whole Dark Tournament and training thing but other than that he had been around Mikai as often as he could have been so why hadn't he known about her being on the track team? Why was she hiding something from him?

_Shut it Yusuke it's not like you're hiding anything from her._

He shook his head at his inner thought; the reason he didn't confess about being a Spirit Detective was obvious enough, she didn't need to know; hell he hadn't told Keiko until she had gotten wrapped up in something and even then he didn't want to tell her _everything _but he had. Perhaps the time to tell Mikai would come up, but Yusuke hoped it never would. The last thing he needed was another innocent human getting involved with his Spirit World business.

_Later…I'll tell her much later._

XxX

"The place just vanished," Yusuke explained with his arms crossed. "I didn't feel a spike in energy until it was too late."

"That is strange," Kurama said as he grabbed his chin with his right hand. "I don't understand why it took you so long to feel something that would require so much spiritual energy to accomplish."

Rather than discuss the whole mission thing out in public, the group of three tracked down Hiei and then departed for Kuwabara's apartment. Kuwabara insisted that no one would be home, so they wouldn't have to worry about being bothered or anyone overhearing anything of importance. Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke sat on the green colored floor while Hiei sat on the ledge of an open window.

Kuwabara sighed and leaned against his bed. "Do we have _any_ information on this Kubo guy? Like what he wants or anythin'?"

"He wants to tear a hole between this world and the Makai in a month's time." Kurama glanced over at Kuwabara, his face serious. "That's all we know as of now."

"A month!?" Kuwabara pushed himself off of the side of his bed and looked over at the redhead with his mouth agape. "We only have a month to find this guy and stop him?"

Kurama nodded. "That's what Koenma wants, how he knows we only have a month has yet to be explained."

"Sounds like we're not getting the whole story," Yusuke hissed out with a slight groan. In all honesty he had pondered that very thought himself, but had no logical backing for his theory. At least he wasn't alone in this wild goose chase.

"You act like that's something new," Hiei added with a roll of his eyes. "The Spirit World has a habit of leaving out important information, remember the Gate of Betrayal?"

"Oh…" Yusuke blinked, how could he have forgotten? "Yeah."

Hiei averted his gaze from the other three, and back out to the bright blue sky. "I recommend we find Kubo as soon as possible before more humans pick up on missing buildings. I'm not going to run around erasing the memory of every human in this filthy town."

"Fine, we have the weekend to stick together and look for him." Yusuke uncrossed his arms and gripped his bent knees. "Starting tomorrow morning we'll search all over town for him, deal?"

"Deal." Kurama and Hiei said in unison.

"And I'm coming!" Kuwabara announced as he pointed to himself. "I don't care what you guys think about my powers I'm still apart of this team dammit and I'm going to help out."

"Fine, whatever just don't get in the way!" Yusuke moved his right hand up and waved it back and forth in Kuwabara's direction. "If you die I'm not explaining it to Koenma!"

"Whatever, Urameshi!"

"Well now that that's settled I suggest we all head back home. It's grown late, and we all need to relax and prepare for tomorrow," Kurama suggested, his eyes scanning the room.

"Yeah, okay." Yusuke stood and stretched his arms over his head. "We'll meet tomorrow morning around Sarayashiki and spend all day lookin' for this guy. I'll see you guys later."

It seemed a little too easy: just make plans and then head out the next morning, was it really that easy? With a final goodbye, Yusuke left the room with his hands down in his pockets and checked the clock in the living room before leaving the house; 7:30.

_I guess it's time to pay Mikai a visit…at least it'll take my mind off of things for a while._

Yusuke opened the front door, stepped out, and shut it behind him as he moved out onto the empty street. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a shift movement masked in darkness: Hiei. He never could sit still when bored, the meeting must have truly been over with his leaving. By his check Kurama would be leaving in a moment or two, leaving a bored Kuwabara by himself which was a shame when Yusuke thought about it; the poor bastard didn't have any powers so he couldn't train or be there for battle plans, unless he was going to be the bait.

_Bait…_

The black haired kid chuckled at his thought and began walking down the street, doing his best to keep his laughter to himself. Now that Kuwabara had a job and position on the team, perhaps he wouldn't feel so useless anymore.

_I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him his new position_.

XxX

The setting sun threw a range of different colors into the sky, from red to orange, to a dark blue that promised an upcoming night. To the average human it was just a sunset, but Yusuke couldn't help but appreciate the colors, after all the island where the Dark Tournament had been held did not provide such a sunset. In all of his time on the island, he didn't understand what he had missed most, and at time it seemed like he hadn't had time to think about the things he wanted what with Genkai's death and the impending battle with Toguro. But here, in the human world, he could relax for a bit and watch the simple things.

"Hey Yusuke?"

Breaking from his thoughts, he took a long drink from his cup filled with soda before cocking his head to where Mikai stood. "What?"

"You look worried, everything okay?"

"Things are fine," he insisted.

"Huh…" The young woman blinked a few times. "Suuuuree!"

He watched as she hopped off of the cement ground beneath the both of them and onto a thin metal fence. It took a second before she regained her balance enough to stand still, her arms outstretched.

It had been three hours since the meeting had come to an end, and in that time he had met up with Mikai at a local hamburger joint and after an hour long dinner filled with conversation and things Yusuke had missed over his tournament days. After the dinner ended, they departed for his school grounds, Mikai insisting that she wanted to run the track. Why? He had no idea.

The sun setting in the background provided just enough light for the two teens to see each other clearly, as well as all of their surroundings. After stepping on school grounds, they made their way to the back where a collection of cement bleachers overlooked the school's P.E. area, which consisted of a baseball field, football field, and a track lined with sand and gravel. Yusuke chose to sit in the first row of bleachers which hung over the track by a few feet.

Yusuke watched as Mikai balanced herself on the thin railing, his brow raising as she walked up and down the bar, her eyes never straying. "I'm surprised you're still on that thing," he commented as he moved around his bottle of soda, making it fizz at the top.

"Yeah well I'm good at gymnastics," she said, her focus on the silver bar as she walked up and down the bar. "You know me, I can't stand still."

He chuckled and bit down on the plastic straw that led down to his half-finished soda. It was true, in the year he had come to know Mikai he had never seen her sit down for more than a half an hour unless she was asleep. "I thought you'd be on your ass already."

She chuckled a bit, and grinned. "That's how I lost my virginity."

The soda he had been drinking came up with a harsh cough. He slammed his fist against his chest, over and over again as his coughing came to a stop. "What?!" he managed between coughs.

"I lost my virginity that way," she said, as if it wasn't a touchy subject at all. She hopped a bit, and turned around, once again facing Yusuke but never once losing her balance. "I was ten and I was using the balance beam. I slipped and fell while doing a cartwheel, right on the corner and—"

Yusuke quickly covered his ears, blocking out the sound of her voice. "I don't wanna hear it! Lalala!"

Mikai laughed, stretching her arms back out. "Of course Yusuke, I know how sensitive you are when it comes to _those things_."

"Oh shut up," he said looking away from her as he took a long sip from his straw.

After a long silent moment of Yusuke drinking down what remained of his soda, Mikai hopped off of the bar, only to jump up a bit more so that she could sit down on it. She whirled, giving her back to Yusuke, and then dropped _down_ so that she hung upside down facing him. Her shoulder length brown hair fell around her, nearly touching the ground as she clenched the metal bar between her fists.

"Somethin's wrong with you, Yusuke." She narrowed her brown eyes in his direction. "Wanna confess?"

"No," he replied, the straw never leaving his bottom lip. "And even if there was why would I bother tellin' you?"

Her eyes grew wide. "Jeez! Damn Yusuke it was just a question!"

Another moment of silence passed, but this time Yusuke felt the urge to go ahead and break the ice. "Why didn't you ever mention anything about being on the track team?"

"It happened while you were gone, and I just never got around to telling you, sorry." Her words were honest, her eyes never straying from his. It was one of the benefits of hanging around with Mikai, in the year they had come to know one another she had never lied to him. She was either very honest, or an incredible liar.

"Why did you get kicked off?"

"Because my grades are so bad," she answered with a slight frown that looked like a smile to Yusuke. "My attendance is bad too so they kicked me off. Too bad though, I had a lot of fun while on the team."

The young girl sighed, and closed her eyes for a few minutes and in the silence, Yusuke went over her features that had matured since his break from the young woman. Her brown hair had grown out longer, now past her shoulders rather than the shorter chin length cut she usually sported. Her face had matured a bit, her cheekbones and lips stood out a bit more now that she had aged half a year. Clad in a black sleeveless top and a pair of black jeans, he could clearly see the curves that came with growing up.

"Anyways!" She twisted her body around and came around the silver rod. Landing on her feet, she stood up straight and smacked her hands together. "I'm gonna go run a bit, you don't mind staying for a bit do you?"

He shook his head. "No."

"All right then!" Smiling, she hopped over the edge and landed on the ground with ease.

Yusuke watched as she ran away from where they had been and over to the track. She bent down at the starting line, her posture alone reminded Yusuke of the professional runners he had seen on TV before. He mentally counted to three, and, as if she was hearing his thoughts, she broke out from the starting line and took off down the rounded strip of gravel and sand. He watched in silence as she ran around the track, the wind moving her hair and clouds of dirt gathering in clouds around her feet. Never had he seen her run like she was tonight, her legs and arms moved in perfect time with one another so much so that she looked like a professional runner.

_Huh…who knew she had it in her._

It had been a year since he had first met Mikai, and she couldn't have come in at a more complicated time. Two weeks after they had met in a brawl behind a local pastry shop, Yusuke had given his life for a young boy by throwing himself in front of a car. After being brought back to life he and Kuwabara started hanging out with her, and their friendship had grown from there. He cherished their relationship; she never lied (as far as he knew), and loving being around him just as much as he liked being around her. She was hyper, never able to sit still and often challenged him to rematches all while acting goofy and making a smile cross his face. She had been there when he had returned home after fighting demons and never asked him a question, she respected his boundaries and never once stepped over the line. She was a nice escape from his duties as a Spirit Detective, he didn't have to worry about demons or secrets with her.

Breaking from his thoughts, Yusuke looked away from Mikai and to the sky. The multi-colored sky that had greeted him and Mikai when he had arrived no longer existed, instead a dark blanket covered the sky, small lights reflecting in the darkness. When had it become so late? It wasn't like his mother was going to bark at him for staying out too late or anything, but he _did_ need to try and get some sleep before heading out and going on a search and destroy mission.

He moved his attention away from the sky and back down to the track, but instead met with Mikai's face. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips curved in a lopsided grin. Far too close for comfort, Yusuke jumped back and slammed his lower back into the cement bleacher behind him.

"What the hell, Mikai?!" he yelled out.

The scrunched features on her face relaxed, replaced by a smile. "You had such a serious look on your face! I couldn't help it!"

He growled out as he regained his previous posture and took to rubbing his now sore lower back. Oh yeah, this was going to come in handy tomorrow morning when he was running around with Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei while on the track of a demon who could make buildings disappear.

"Sorry," Mikai stood up on the bleacher Yusuke had taken a seat on, "I didn't know you were going to jump back like _that_. Something must be really bothering you, you sure you don't wanna spill?"

"It's nothing." Yusuke glanced up at the older woman. Beads of sweat were falling from her forehead, giving her face a bit of a shine even in the darkness. "Aren't you tired yet?"

She shook her head. "Nah just bored. I don't wanna go home, my aunt is off in America so there's nothing at home to keep my busy. Wanna come over and drink?"

Yusuke bit his tongue, literality, to keep from answering with a simple yes, it was a very tempting offer but the promise of tomorrow kept him from saying yes. An all ready guaranteed backache, on top of a hangover? No thank you.

"Nah." Yusuke rose up from the bleacher and sighed before taking in a gulp of cool night air. "I think I'll head home, I've got something to do tomorrow."

"Aw!" Mikai pouted and shoved her hands down into her pockets. "And I just got my fake ID too!"

He twitched at that, and looked over at her. "Really?"

"Really!" She laughed, slightly moving her shoulders up and down as she did so. "Called in a few favors from some friends, now I don't have to steal alcohol anymore."

Rolling his eyes, he copied her and placed his hands in his pockets. In the year that he had known Mikai, he had gotten used to her stealing habit. She had been caught a handful of times, she admitted, when she was younger but since turning fourteen two years ago had gotten 'good enough' to avoid cameras and shopkeeper's eyes. Her family hadn't been happy at the late night jail calls, and Yusuke couldn't blame them. Who wanted to get calls in the middle of the night from the police station? It was a bad habit of hers, one that eventually led to a refusal to go into the same store as her for fear of her slipping something into _his_ pocket.

"You wanna come over tomorrow _night_ then?"

Aw hell why not? The big hunt would be over by nightfall…right?

"Sure," Yusuke answered with a shrug. "I'll be over at eight."

Mikai smirked and stretched her arms over her head. "Sounds great. See ya then, Yusuke!"

The fourteen year old watched as Mikai hopped up the bleachers ahead of him as they made their way out of the schoolyard. They said another round of goodbyes at the front of the school and parted ways. But Yusuke couldn't help but wonder what Mikai was going to do without him, if she wasn't getting into trouble with him she was usually making her own.

_She'd better stay outta trouble, I ain't savin' her butt again._


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything really but in essence Mikai, Senkai, Carden, and Kubo. Cat owns Sotto; The A owns Asuka; The Last J owns Reijii; Mikey owns Lei; and Nicole owns Yuzu. Damn…I've just realized how many characters I really don't own…oh well, they're still my girls and I love 'em!

* * *

><p>The remainder of Yusuke's night had been rather dull compared the meeting between him and Mikai; he went home, ate, and went to bed. Surprisingly enough he managed to get a decent nights rest without any nightmare waking him around three like the past few days. He woke at nine, then headed out of the house and over to Sarayashiki. On the way he ran into Kuwabara, who complained the whole way to Sarayashiki how he was still upset at the fact that Yusuke and the others had hidden something important like a mission from him. He answered with a 'yeah, yeah' to Kuwabara's lighthearted complains until they arrived in front of the school where Kurama and Hiei stood.<p>

With the team completed, the four left the school, upped their energy signatures, and set to walk about town with no destination really set. They headed straight for the busier part of town first in hopes that their collection of high energy would bring about a demon.

"I'm sooo bored!" Yusuke announced as he leaned against an abounded building. "This is such a pain in the ass, leave it to the toddler to give such a crappy mission!"

"Searching without an energy signature is a bit difficult," Kurama said with a light sigh.

Yusuke shook his head a bit and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm hungry. Anyone else wanna take a break and get something to eat?"

"No," Hiei cut in. "I suggest that we keep searching until we get this mission finished. You're not the only one with something important to do, Spirit Detective."

"Oh yeah?" Yusuke cocked a brow. "What do _you_ have to do, Hiei?"

"What I do in my spare time is none of your business," the fire demon spat as he glared in Yusuke's direction. "I was just stating the fact that you are not the only one with other things to do."

"Whatever!" Yusuke pushed himself off of the wall and began walking down the street towards a restaurant. "I'm getting something to eat!"

But as Yusuke approached the restaurant, he felt a sudden spike in an unknown energy signature. He turned around to his partners and watched as Kurama and Hiei perked up, but Yusuke couldn't _see_ anything out of the ordinary. The gust of wind Yusuke had felt the day before returned, and shoved him, _hard_, away from the noodle shop he was about to enter.

"That's where it's coming from," Kurama said as he took a step forward.

Yusuke dug his heels into the ground, steadying himself as the gust of hot wind died down. "Oh great, there goes my lunch."

The building lifted off of the ground, leaving a crater similar to the one Yusuke had seen the day before. The black haired man watched as pieces of cement peeled off of the building like old paint the higher the noodle business lifted higher and higher into the air. Through the large glass windows Yusuke could see the people inside lying on the ground, while a few others lay sprawled across the tables with their bowl of food still steaming beside their heads. What had happened to them? Where they really sleeping or had someone killed them?

"What the hell is going on?" Kuwabara said as he inched closer to the hole. "The building just…disappeared."

_Oh yeah, Kuwabara can't see what's going on…_

Wait, did that mean that no other human could see the building floating in mid-air?

Before Yusuke could act, or think of his next move, the building faded away into the bright blue sky as if it had never been there in the first place. As soon as the building was no longer visible to Yusuke's trained eye, a horrid _ripping_ noise filled the air. Suddenly a portion of the sky right where the building had vanished to opened up, and demons of all sizes and colors emerged. The demons dropped out of the dark hole, and landed smack in the middle of a crowd of humans.

"Shit!" Yusuke sprinted from his solid spot and over to where the demons had dropped.

"What's going on!?" Kuwabara called out of frustration.

The crowd of humans parted when Yusuke ran over to him, allowing him to access the demons right away. He forced his spirit energy into his punches, and hit every demon with precision gained from fighting in the Dark Tournament. The demons dissolved into nothing as soon as they were hit, but Yusuke could help but wonder how strange it looked to the people around him.

When every demon had been defeated, Yusuke glanced over at his partners and found them finishing off the second wave, Kuwabara just sitting in the background with a look of surprise and shock on his face. Poor guy couldn't see anything without his powers.

Yusuke crossed the street with care, avoiding car hoods as much as he could. Kurama and Hiei finished off the few lower level demons as Yusuke came near the trio, and took to looking over at the giant hole in the sky.

"What are we supposed to do about that?" Yusuke asked as he pointed.

Kurama glanced up at the hole, his green eyes narrowed. "I have no idea. Unless any of us know any sort of trick to seal it up, it will remain open and demons will have freedom to come and pass as they want."

Without warning, Hiei hopped off of the ground and withdrew his sword. He slashed the portal in half with his blade before landing gracefully on the ground. Yusuke heard a spine-chilling scream come out from the black portal, and then the portal turned in on itself. Folding in like a piece of paper, the portal faded away and left nothing behind. Was it really that easy?

"Huh…" Yusuke blinked, had he really just seen what he thought he had? "So what do we do now?"

"Kubo seems to know where we are now," Kurama said, all eyes turned to him. "At least we know what his energy signature _feels_ like, our problem is that it doesn't peak until he's about to act."

"So what are we supposed to do about it?" Yusuke walked back over to the group. "It's not like Spirit World has a device that can help us out…right?"

"Not that I know of." Kurama cupped his chin and focused down on the ground as if he was daydreaming. "But I do know of someone who might be able to help us."

Hiei glanced over at the redhead, an eyebrow cocked towards his hairline. "Who?"

Kurama rose out of his deep thought and cast a smile towards his group, a smile that sent a small shiver down Yusuke's spine; Kurama knew what the hell was he was doing. "Don't worry about his name, I'll contact him but for now I think we should break up and go our separate ways. It may take a day or two, but I'll tell you when I've got what I think we need."

"Whadd'ya gonna do?" Kuwabara came back over to the group. "Who are you going to talk to?"

"I'm sorry Kuwabara but that I can't tell you." The former fox demon laughed lightly, his smile growing more confident. "I'll be sure to catch up with you guys later, do take care."

"Yeah, yeah!" Yusuke waved his right hand as Kurama walked away. Whatever secrets that guy had were his own, though he wished he had known about Youko Kurama a bit more before he decided to pop up during the Dark Tournament.

Hiei closed his eyes for a long minute. "Well now that the fox is gone I'm going to take my leave as well."

Yusuke rolled his eyes and placed his hands in his pockets. "Fine everyone take off then! Come on Kuwabara, let's go get something to eat before all of the restaurants in town decide to float up in the air and disappear."

The orange haired boy nodded his head. "Fine but you gotta tell me what the hell just happened!"

"_Fine_!"

* * *

><p>Kurama squinted as he stepped through the darkness. His human eyes made it hard to see in the dark, Youko, however, had a talent for seeing as well as a cat in the dark, but he had to make do with what he had. Every step he took had to be careful in this darkness, Reijii had a habit of leaving items scattered on the floor whether it be clothing, or her chemistry set, or scrap metal and he had no desire to end up with a twisted ankle.<p>

"Reijii!" Kurama called out through the darkness.

"Over here, Kurama!"

A light clicked on in the darkness, allowing him to see the smoke that gathered near the ceiling. He had smelled it upon entering, but he had no idea if it was coming from her or the nearby barbeque restaurant that Reijii's family owned. With his eyes locked on the doorway where the light erupted from, he made his way over and stood in the doorway. Before him stood a tall woman, her back to him and her attention on a large set of beakers and tubes all of different color. She was obviously working on something, clad in plain clothing and then a thick white apron and stained gloves, he knew that she was busy tossing around dangerous chemicals to the human _and_ Spirit World.

Kurama chuckled and leaned against the doorway. "You're not making another weapon are you?"

She whirled, a pair of thick goggles over her face and her dirty blonde hair slicked back into a ponytail. A pair of beakers rested in her hands, one pouring out a thick white smoke that reminded Kurama of a witch's cauldron, and the other containing a lime green liquid. Her head jerked down towards the items in hand, and she moved them behind her back.

"No! Not at all, Kurama!" she insisted with a lopsided smile. After a minute, her smile flipped upside down and the mood in the room shifted. "Wait a minute, what are you doing here? I haven't heard from you for months and then you drop by? How rude!"

"Well Reijii I have a bit of a request," Kurama took a step into the room, a slight smile tugging on corner of his mouth. "A commission of sorts."

A grin came across the young scientist's face, one that Kurama knew that she was interested in what he had to offer. Who wouldn't? A request from one of the Makai's best thieves? Someone who, at one time, had been on the Spirit World's most wanted list? A mad scientist of her level couldn't pass up such an offer! She placed her glass beakers down on the counter behind her, and raised a gloved hand to her face.

"And what," she removed her goggles, revealing a pair of dark green, almost hazel, eyes, "would that be?"

* * *

><p>"Ah the midnight air feels wonderful!" Mikai cheered as she lifted her plastic bags into the air. "We need to go out at midnight more often!"<p>

Yusuke shook his head at his friend's enthusiasm, she had actually passed off as being an eighteen year old at the tender age of fifteen thanks to her fake ID. Now with a bag full of beer and small snacks, Yusuke had a night of laughs and bad jokes to look forward to, but it was a nice break from the demon hunting that had taken place just hours before.

"We made off like bandits!"

The man shook his head at his friend's happiness. "I guess, but I don't think it's going to last between the both of us."

"Fine then we'll go out later and get more!" Mikai declared with a smile crossing her face. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, but who's gonna be sober enough to do it?"

Mikai glanced over at Yusuke, her eyes narrowed in a glare. "Not it!"

"Hey I'm not—"

A strong blast of air blew over the two, carrying an all too familiar energy signature along with it. But the minute the energy washed over him and the gust died down a bit, another familiar signal came with it: Kurama's. Yusuke's heart slammed against his ribcage; was Kurama hurt? Off somewhere bleeding?

"Mikai, stay here," Yusuke said between clenched teeth. He started to run off when Mikai spoke.

"Yusuke…is that Shuuichi?" she muttered, her voice barely over a whisper.

He froze in mid-step and looked back at her. "What?"

Mikai inched forward, her eyes locked onto something. "Over…there! Isn't that Shuuichi?"

Yusuke followed Mikai's gaze and found that she was indeed staring over at a fallen body. But it couldn't be Kurama, he was too good of a fighter to be caught up in the middle of a fight that would cause his damage! Growling, Yusuke sprinted over to the body, Mikai trailing him a second later. As he came closer to the body, he spotted bright red hair sprawled across the floor and a pool of dark blood underneath him.

"_Shit_!" Yusuke arrived at Kurama's side and shook his shoulders. "Wake up dammit! What the hell happened?"

He opened his green eyes. "The bakery…i-it gone. A demon portal…"

"Where is the portal?"

The redhead demon sat up, blood gushing out from a large gash in his stomach, and pointed three buildings down. "There…the demons they're—"

"Shuuichi!"

Yusuke rose his head up and saw Mikai running over to them. She stopped when she stood on the opposite side of Kurama, the bag of food still in her hands. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood beneath the fox demon and fell to her knees.

"What happened?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Dammit Mikai don't you listen to anything I say?" Yusuke lifted a fist and glared over at her. "Get the hell outta here, this doesn't concern you."

The unease that had been written on Mikai's face when she had arrived at Kurama's side vanished as she clenched her teeth and furrowed her brows. "Screw you, Urameshi! He's gonna bleed to death the longer we sit here, I can heal him!"

Yusuke faltered. "W-what?"

"Give him to me, Yusuke!" Mikai wiggled her hand free from the plastic bag and placed her hands on Kurama's shoulders. "You need to—"

Another blast of air cut off Mikai, screaming so loudly in Yusuke's ear that he couldn't hear her or Kurama. Small waves appeared in Kurama's blood, resembling some sort of ocean on a windy day. The energy signature of the demon that had taken the noodle shop earlier that day returned as the three story building before the three lifted off of the ground, again leaving a carter in the ground.

"What the hell is going on?" the young woman muttered.

"Dammit!" Yusuke looked down at Kurama only to find his green eyes closed. He hadn't fainted from blood loss? If he didn't do something quick…

Mikai pulled Kurama over and placed his head in the crook of her shoulder. Wrapping her right arm around his torso, she placed her hands over his open wound. A bright green light flickered from between her fingers, and Yusuke felt an increase in her energy signature. Mikai could _freakin'_ heal people and she had never told him? What the hell was the matter with her? That kind of shit was important!

A shrill broke Yusuke's reflection, and brought his attention back to the floating building. The dark portal that had visited them the day before returned, this one wider than the one that Yusuke had encountered earlier. Without any hesitation lower-ranking demons spilled out of the portal, much faster than they had hours before. What the hell was going on in this town?

Yusuke stood and charged at the gang of demons that had just entered the human world. He took them down one by one, glancing over his shoulder every so often to make sure that Mikai wasn't being attacked. When Yusuke had managed to take care of every demon, he looked over at the portal; just how the hell was he supposed to take care of that? He needed Hiei, he doubted that his Spirit Gun would have the same effect on the portal as Hiei's sword.

"How am I —?"

The one story abandoned building beside the crater suddenly began to levitate, creating another depression in the ground. The building hovered in the mid-air for a silent minute before evaporating into thin air. _Someone _had to stop this, the disappearing trick was happening at a much quicker rate and if something didn't happen the whole city would soon be festering with portals and demons.

_Well that's just peachy._

Another shriek echoed through the cold night, and a black portal stretched across the sky. It extended and morphed with the portal a few feet away, and equally the two joined together to form a massive gateway, pitch black even against the night sky. Demons poured out of the opening as if a floodgate had broken open that had been holding back an ocean. Yusuke hopped up right away and attacked the group of demons, but with the amount of beasts emerging from the gate, he was easily overwhelmed.

_Dammit! If Kurama wasn't down this wouldn't be such a pain in the ass to handle!_

A demon struck Yusuke across the face, sending him flying backwards. He skidded across the ground until he slammed face-first against a wall. Hissing out in pain, Yusuke shook off the burning sensation that laced his jaw and got back to his feet.

"He's gonna so get his ass kicked fo—!"

"Yusuke, get your ass over here!"

Mikai.

He turned his head away from the collection of demons heading his way and over to where he had left Mikai and Kurama. Almost half of the demons were now heading in her and Kurama's direction, claws drawn and teeth shining in the dark. Damn, he hated having to watch someone else while fighting! There was no way in hell Mikai could even stand a chance against a horde of demons, let alone while healing someone!

"Hold on!" Yusuke broke out from the wall and marched straight through the mass of demons, but before he could make it over to Mikai's side, three demons jumped out from the crowd with their claws aimed for the young girl and the redhead. "Shit!"

A bright green light broke out from where Mikai sat, forcing the demons backwards and straight into the Spirit Detective. He punched the demons off, killing them instantly with the force of his hit and spirit energy. Demons gone, Yusuke hurried over to where Mikai was and dug his heels into the ground. Mikai held Kurama to her chest as a lime green barrier protected the two of them that reminded Yusuke of an upside-down see through bowl. But what really caught his eye was the fact that _Hiei_ was standing in front of Mikai, his sword drawn and eyes hard.

"I didn't need your shield, woman," Hiei hissed, not bothering to cast a glance over his shoulder.

"I wasn't for _you_," Mikai spat as the barrier disappeared.

"Hn."

In the blink of an eye Hiei disappeared, and then reappeared in front of the double portal. With a single slash he tore it in half, forcing it to collapse on top of itself. Like a black hole the portal sucked the corners in until nothing but the lost demons were left; easy prey for Yusuke and Hiei. Together, Yusuke and Hiei made easy work of the remaining demons, a punch here and a kick there along with sword slashes proved too much for the lower-ranking demons.

When every demon had been taken care of, Yusuke laced his fingers together and cracked his fingers. "So much for a peaceful night."

"Yusuke!" Mikai called. "Come over here, hurry!"

Following orders, he walked back over to Kurama's side. "How is he?"

Mikai averted her attention from Yusuke to Kurama. "I've closed and healed most of his injury, but I'm going to have to do some touch-up work somewhere else. We can go back to my place, there's no one there."

"Fine." Yusuke whirled. "You coming, Hiei?"

The fire appreciation turned his back to Yusuke. "Let's get going already."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything really but in essence Mikai, Senkai, Carden, and Kubo. Cat owns Sotto; The A owns Asuka; The Last J owns Reijii; Mikey owns Lei; and Nicole owns Yuzu. Damn…I've just realized how many characters I really don't own…oh well, they're still my girls and I love 'em!

And thank you to **Aly Goode** for reviewing!

* * *

><p>Mikai's apartment always took Yusuke by surprise. Everything was so <em>neat<em>, he couldn't stand it. Every time he walked in through the front door he worried about knocking something over or touching one of the pure white walls with his dirty hands. But what bothered him the most was the fact that it looked like no one lived in the apartment, no pictures adorned the walls, no shoes near the front door, no _freakin'_ life. It was one of those apartments the complex used for modeling when attempting to rig another customer in. Cold, emotionless, void of life.

Her apartment had a plan layout: when he walked in he came into the living room with the dining room and kitchen on his left. A hallway stretched down behind the living room allowing entrance to Mikai's room, the bathroom, and finally the master bedroom. The furniture in the living room was all covered in black leather, but it hardly appeared used. A massive TV sat in front of the couches, but Yusuke had only watched a few movies on it while Mikai's aunt was out of town and other than that, he had never seen it on.

But even though he felt odd in her living room, there were more important things to worry about.

"He should be all right after tomorrow," Mikai said, her hands still glowing and over Kurama's midsection.

Yusuke cocked a brow. "After tomorrow?"

"His wounds were deep," Mikai explained, never taking her eyes off of the redhead. "Even with my healing his muscles will be sore; I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to take that away."

"Great." Yusuke sighed and leaned against a nearby wall.

The light from around Mikai's hands flicked down until Yusuke could no longer see it. Inhaling through her nose, she got to her feet. "I'm going to get him a larger shirt and clean up his stomach. Don't do anything stupid to the walls while I'm gone."

Without waiting for an answer, she left Yusuke and Hiei alone with the sleeping Kurama. She walked down the nearby hallway and took the first door on the left; Yusuke knew well that it was her room, the only room the in the apartment that felt like someone actually _lived_ in it.

"Five more places have disappeared," Hiei said, breaking the silence. Yusuke turned and faced the much smaller man. "I've been running around all night sealing up portals and killing demons."

"Five more?" Yusuke blinked in disbelief. "Damn Kubo's really workin' hard tonight."

"I will finish the rounds tonight, but in the morning you and the idiot can pick up where I leave off." Hiei crossed his arms over his chest and shot a glare in Yusuke's direction. "I have no idea what Kurama was thinking."

The Spirit Detective moved his vision field from Hiei to Kurama. "Dunno but he'll be payin' for it in the morning."

"I'll take my leave now, I suggest you do the same and get a decent night's rest, you're going to need it in the morning."

A sly smile came over Yusuke's face and he inched closer to Hiei. "Aw are you giving me advice?"

"No, more like a _warning_."

Approaching the front door, Hiei opened it, and stepped out in silence. Yusuke felt the demon's energy signature flare for a split second and then vanish just as quickly as it had come. Nothing left to do, Yusuke plopped down in the leather chair a few feet away from the couch where Kurama lay and flipped on the TV. As he surfed through the channels, Mikai came back out of her room with a white shirt in hand and a washcloth in hand.

"Where'd Hiei go?"

"Out," Yusuke answered casually. After a minute, he twitched and looked over at Mikai, his jaw slightly agape. "Hey, how do you know Hiei?"

"Like I said, a lot happened while you were gone, Yusuke." Mikai sat down on the couch and lifted Kurama's shirt to reveal his chest. "Not this time, but the time before."

Was she hiding something from him? Something more than the whole healing people and shielding thing? Ugh what was the point of acting surprised? It wasn't like he was telling her the truth about things, but then again it wasn't like she _needed_ to know. Tonight was just a fluke, something that wouldn't happen again.

Right?

"Whatever!" Yusuke smacked the sides of the leather chair and stood, making a beeline for the kitchen. "What can I eat?"

"Anything!"

"I warned you," Yusuke muttered as he eyed the full refrigerator.

He assembled a massive sub-sandwich, using every meat Mikai had in the fridge and grabbed a soda from her collection, at least someone lived enough in the house to fill the icebox. He brought his items over to the sitting area and sat back down in the leather chair just as Mikai finished cleaning the blood stains off of Kurama's stomach.

"Want a piece?" Yusuke waved the sandwich in her direction.

She shrugged. "Why the hell not?"

The brown haired girl stood, and carried the blood soaked cloth away with her, giving Yusuke the chance to look over Kurama's wound. The gash moved completely across his stomach in a straight line, the skin there now appeared thin and a bright pink color. Mikai had done a good job, at least the skin had been healed enough so that it wouldn't scab over and leave Kurama open for another life threatening blow.

"You think its good enough?"

He perked at the sound of her voice and looked over his shoulder. "Looks fine!"

She came around the chair and leaned against the bottom couch, a soda in hand. With a sigh she popped open the soda and glanced over at him. "How long are you staying?"

"I don't know, how long can I?"

"As long as you want."

"'Till morning, just in case Shuuichi wakes up."

Mikai furrowed her brows as she brought the soda to her lips. "Must you stay over _again_, Yusuke? That makes the second time this week!"

"I thought you said I could stay as long as I wanted!" Yusuke complained, throwing Mikai a confused look. "Besides you don't want to hang around with this strange guy do you?

The young woman threw a glare in his direction, watching him for a minute before returning to her half of the sandwich. "_Anyways_." She took a large bite out of the sandwich, chewed for a bit, and then curled her upper lip. "Did you put mustard in this?"

Yusuke munched on his own wad of food for a minute, then swallowed. "Of course! What's a sandwich without mustard?"

"A _good_ sandwich." Mikai took another bite.

He suppressed a loud laugh for fear of waking Kurama and instead took another bite out of his part of the sandwich. Relaxing around Mikai was just too easy.

* * *

><p>"<em>And today's weather isn't going to be as pleasant as it has been for the past three days folks, make sure to carry your umbrella around, we're expecting at least two inches of rain by tonight<em>!"

Yusuke winced at the sound of the male voice, and peeled his eyes open. Blinking a few times to rid his eyes of the clouds that came with sleep, he found himself still in Mikai's living room, sitting her leather chair. Yawning, he stretched out the kicks in his arms and back from sitting for eight hours, and looked over at the TV; 12:34. Damn, was Hiei still closing portals?

"I'm still so out of it," Yusuke whispered as he rubbed his eyes. Looking away from the TV, he saw Mikai still leaned up against the couch, her head lowered and her eyes closed. "Hey Mikai, Mikai!"

She jerked out of her sleep, and looked around. "What? What?"

"We should see if Shuuichi is still breathing."

Blinking, she yawned. "All right."

She stood and moved away from the couch, allowing Yusuke to slip in and be near Kurama's head. The Spirit Detective began calling Kurama's human name, his tone growing louder with every passing minute the fox didn't stir. Finally, after a few silent minutes, Kurama's eyes fluttered open.

"W-where am I?" Kurama opened and closed his eyes a few times, as he moved his right hand to his stomach. "Where's that demon?"

"You're all right," Yusuke said with a smile. "You're at Mikai's place, we brought you here after you passed out."

The redhead stared at the white ceiling for a few minutes, as if he was trying to remember what had happened the night before. When it all came back to him, he grabbed the couch and started to sit up when Mikai rushed by Yusuke.

"No, you need to lay still, Shuuichi!" she insisted, placing her hands out almost as if she wanted to aid in bringing him back down to the couch. "You're muscles haven't healed all the way, and you still haven't made up for the blood you lost last night."

The fox obeyed and rested his back on the couch once more. "What about my wound? It's been closed…"

"Mikai here fixed it." Yusuke jerked his head in her direction. "She sealed your wound and cleaned you up a bit."

Kurama's green eyes shifted from Yusuke, to Mikai. "I owe you my thanks."

She laughed a bit and waved her right hand, dismissing his idea. "It's no big deal, anything for one of Yusuke's friends. Just stay here and relax a bit until your strength comes back to you, no rush to get you outta here."

Yusuke rolled his eyes and punched her playfully on her upper arm. "What about me then?"

"_You_ stayed all night." Mikai cocked her hips and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Besides, you're not injured."

His jaw dropped open. "Are you kicking me out?"

"No, I'm just saying that you've overstayed your welcome."

"Fine!" Yusuke threw his hands up. "Whatever, I gotta go out and look for demons anyway!" Glancing away from the young woman, he turned his attention to Kurama, who had a slight smile on his face. "When you're feeling up to it come and find me and Kuwabara downtown all right?"

"Wait, Yusuke!" Kurama extended his hand, stopping the young black haired man. "I have something I have to give you."

Kurama's energy signature flared up as a strange looking instrument appeared in his open palm. Dark blue in color, the instrument was rounded at the top and stretched downwards into a straight tube with a hole at the bottom. The rounded part held a small screen with a thin stick within the screen which rested, at the moment, to the right.

"What is it?"

"It's the device I had made so we could track down Kubo's energy signature," Kurama explained. "Unfortunately it also attracts his portals—that was the reason I was so injured last night. This should help you track him down, just be wary of how you use it."

"Wait!" Mikai broke into the conversation. She looked back and forth between Kurama and Yusuke. "You brought that thing here? I don't need any demons around this apartment building!"

"Don't worry, I'm leaving_ remember_?" Yusuke removed the object from Kurama's hand and took it into his own. "I'll see you later Shuuichi, come and find us when you're feeling better all right?"

"I will, Yusuke."

Yusuke smiled at Kurama, and left Mikai's apartment without so much as a glare or glance in her direction. Her moods were worse than her mouth, she shifted through emotions flawlessly and it made her too hard to figure out at times. There were times where Yusuke could read Mikai perfectly, but when she got under his skin she _really_ got under his skin. He had no idea why, she just did. But why her moods changed around _him_ so much, he didn't know.

Girls were too hard to figure out.

* * *

><p>After Yusuke had departed from Mikai's apartment, Kurama found himself exhausted and fell back into another deep sleep. Figuring that his body still hadn't fully recovered from the blood loss, he let the sleep come over him with ease, and he woke sometime later in the same position he had fallen asleep in. He blinked back what small threads of grogginess that clung to him, and used his weight and the couch beneath him to sit up, back against a collection of pillows. Pain flickered up in his stomach, almost like tearing muscle but it was simple enough to deal with.<p>

Once sitting up, he strained against the heart rate slamming in his ear, but heard nothing over the too familiar sound of buzzing of electronic appliances. He couldn't pick up on the sounds of a woman moving around within the apartment, or anything else for that matter. Where had Yusuke's friend gone?

"Mi—"

He stopped mid-sentence when he spotted her sitting in the chair where Yusuke had once been in, fast asleep. He didn't want to wake her, but then again he just didn't want to get up and leave the apartment without saying anything to her. Deciding on his first choice, he slipped off of the couch and gently placed his right hand on her forearm. The minute his bare skin touched hers, a white haze appeared before his eyes, blinding him from the room he thought it was in.

_What's going on?_

"_I want to see you again…"_

_A young woman sat against a large gray rock, her black hair falling around her face as she leaned forward. Her head lowered so far down that her forehead nearly touched her thighs, a painful angle no doubt. Long arms hung down at her sides, the palms facing outwards and the fingers limp. _

"_I just want to be near you again," she whispered. "Just one last time…please."_

_Slowly, as if it hurt, she raised her right hand and retrieved a round, bright blue object from within her pocket. She clenched the item in her hand, so hard that a light crack formed across the surface._

"_Youko…I just want to see you…again." Her voice cracked, as if she was about to break down and cry. "_Please_."_

A heavy curtain of rain broke Kurama out of the strange dream-like state he had been in. He withdrew his hand from Mikai's as she jumped out of her sleep and looked around with a look of surprise written across her features.

"O-oh Shuuichi!" she said with a nervous laugh. "Are you feeling all right now?"

"Fine," he replied, forcing what he had just seen to the back of his head. He would think about it more when he had the time, for now he had to keep a straight face. "Would you mind if I borrowed your shower for a bit?"

She smiled, and nodded her head. "Go right ahead, there's a clean shirt in there if you wanna use it. Towels are under the sink. First door on the right."

"Thank you."

He backed away and headed down the hallway, following her directions. Upon entering the bathroom, he flicked on the light and his eyes met with a _very_ neat and tidy bathroom. This was the kind of cleanliness Kurama expected from a hotel, not an apartment where a girl of Mikai's age lived. Pushing it away, he started the shower, stripped, and stepped in once the water was hot enough.

The rushing water coated his entire body, cleaning off dirt and blood that had stuck to his skin the night before. He paid special attention to his hair, especially the main bulk of it since it had been soaked in blood, and now clung to his red strands, completely caked on. As the dried blood became wet again, it dripped down his body and swirled around the drain before disappearing, never to be thought of again.

As his body returned to his previous state thanks to a round of soap and shampoo, Kurama's mind began wandering. Just what was that dream, that vision that he had received when he touched Mikai? Was a dream _she_ had been having or what?

"_Youko…I just want to see you…again."_

How did she know about his demon half? Yusuke…he had mentioned something earlier about Mikai healing him, but was that the extent of her powers? Could she see into the past or read someone's mind? But even if she could, that wasn't one of _his_ memories, so who did it belong to?

When he felt clean enough and all of the soap had been washed out of his hair, he stepped out of the shower and began drying himself with the fluffy towels underneath the sink. He slipped back into his underwear and pants, thankful that they hadn't been too stained with blood, his shirt, however, was a different matter. There was no way he could walk into his home with a torn and bloodied shirt and make it past his mother, so he grabbed the extra one Mikai had proved.

Mostly dry and now in a clean outfit, he picked up his stray towels and left the bathroom. He headed down the hallway and back to the living room where Mikai sat, her eyes glued to the TV.

"Thank you again."

She jumped at his voice and to her feet. "Oh, you're welcome, don't mention it."

That said, they both approached the door and Mikai opened it. Kurama stepped out, but before he could walk down the open hallway she grabbed an umbrella from behind the door and handed it to him.

"Use it please, you can return it when you bring the shirt back," she said as she held out the dark blue umbrella. "It's pouring and knowing Yusuke the most he'll provide is a beat up newspaper."

He took the umbrella from her hands, and smiled. "All right. Thank you very much Mikai, I hope to meet you again."

She closed her eyes and laughed. "Same here."

Waving, Kurama walked away from Mikai's apartment door. The rain provided a chilling breeze, and he was thankful that he had taken his time to dry his hair completely before heading out. He strolled through her apartment building and made sure to open the umbrella when he came to an opening. The rain pelted the umbrella, and Kurama held it a bit tighter to make sure it didn't leave his hand.

_Winter rain._

He took a deep breath in through his nostrils, and closed his eyes. Oh yes, this was definitely his favorite season.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything really but in essence Mikai, Senkai, Carden, and Kubo. Cat owns Sotto; The A owns Asuka; The Last J owns Reijii; Mikey owns Lei; and Nicole owns Yuzu. Damn…I've just realized how many characters I really don't own…oh well, they're still my girls and I love 'em!

"And take that!"

Yusuke shoved his fist smack into a demon's face and sent it flying away from him. Hiei jumped into the air and towards the dark portal above the both of them, withdrawing his sword. In a single motion he sliced the portal in half and forced it to disappear into nothing.

"That takes care of this round!" Yusuke cheered with a grin. "And we only lost two more buildings this time around."

"Yes." Hiei sheathed his sword. "It's been a great day."

The Spirit Detective winced at the sheer _sarcasm_ that dripped from Hiei's words but chose to ignore his instinct to bite back and instead take a well-earned break. He ducked underneath a nearby awning as the rain picked up and sighed. Why did it have to be raining so had _today_? Running his fingers through his now drenched hair, he glanced down at the device Kurama had given him earlier in the day. He had to give credit to whomever had created it, it worked a little too _well_ with bringing demons around but at least he could tell where and what building was going to disappear.

"_Yusuke_," Koenma's voice said.

At the sound of his name in the voice of the toddler who employed him, Yusuke reached down into his pocket and removed a round communication device Botan had given him right after the Dark Tournament. He flicked it open, and saw Koenma's face looking back at him on the screen.

"What is it now?"

"_There's been a break in the case, I need you, Hiei, and Kurama to meet Kuwabara over at his house so I can give you the new information_," Koenma explained, his blue binky moving in and out of his mouth with every word.

Yusuke nodded his head. "All right."

The screen went blank, and Yusuke slipped the communicator back into his pocket. Hiei glanced in his direction, his hand still on the hilt of his sword. Grabbing a nearby newspaper, Yusuke lifted it over his head and walked back out.

"Come on, we gotta go to Kuwabara's place."

* * *

><p>On the way over to Kuwabara's house, Yusuke and Hiei managed to catch up with Kurama. As they walked over to Kuwabara's house he informed him of what Koenma had told him, and Kurama nodded in understanding. When they arrived at Kuwabara's house they went up to his bedroom and Yusuke reopened his communicator. He set it down on Kuwabara's desk and the screen flickered, revealing Koenma, still sitting at his desk with stacks of paper beside him.<p>

"_Good, it's nice to see all of you again_," Koenma began, "_As I've told Yusuke there's been a bit of a break in the case. We've discovered that Kubo has been targeting one person in the human realm_."

"Who?" Kuwabara inched closer to the desk.

"_It's someone who Spirit World has been watching for a bit of time now, Yusuke you know her well_."

Those words echoed through Yusuke's head, forcing his heart to skip a beat. Other than Keiko and his mother, Yusuke knew only one other girl Koenma could be hinting at that had yet to cause any trouble when it came to his full time job. "Don't say _her_ name," he whispered. "Please don't say—"

"_Mikai Aldorn_."

"Aw hell!" Yusuke threw his hands up in the air and moved away from the communicator, towards the back of Kuwabara's room. "Man why the hell did it have to be _her_ of all people?! Why can't we have a _regular _girl?"

"_Yusuke, this is important_," Koenma said, his voice serious. "_Most of Kubo's attacks happen within a three mile radius of Mikai, and I need you four to watch over her for the time being in hopes that you'll be able to catch Kubo. But there is something else_."

"More?" Kurama cocked a brow.

Koenma nodded. "_Yes, it seems that the demon Senkai's energy has also been flourishing with the human realm. Her power has been peaking randomly over the past few weeks, enough so that we've been able to track it to Tokyo. She might be working with Kubo, so watch out for her as well_."

"So we're looking for two demons?" Yusuke inhaled through his nose. "Great, two demons within the town limit!"

"_I want you to track down the both of them as soon as possible, I fear that if the two meet they could possibly rip open a hole between the human realm and the Makai large enough to swallow the entire city_."

Kuwabara jumped back, his jaw slacked. "The whole city!?"

Yusuke's eyes widened. He could see it now, the city he lived in being engulfed in a large black portal, with hundreds of thousands of demons spreading all throughout Japan. There was no way Yusuke and his group could defeat _every_ demon, and close the portal. It had happened more than fifteen times or more over the past two days, how much longer could it go on before the entire city suffered? Sweat fell from Yusuke's hairline as his knuckles turned an ashen white as the sheer _idea _of his city being devoured. He had to stop this.

"_Yes. I recommend that you four get on the case straight away. Mikai can be told of everything, she is fully aware of my existence as well as your job, Yusuke_."

"She knows?" Yusuke blinked, confused. He had never told her anything about it, in fact he made sure to hide it from her for fear of demons seeking her out. Was she hiding something _more_ from him?

"_I'll keep you updated if anything more comes up. Good luck_." The screen faded out to black, leaving team Urameshi with the thoughts of the town falling apart and the mysterious demons by the names of Kubo and Senkai.

Yusuke was the first to move; he stepped forward, closed the communicator and slipped it back into his pocket. "Well it looks like we'll be paying Mikai another visit."

"_You_ three will," Hiei said, drawing all attention in his direction. "I have no desire to see that woman, I'll continue sealing portals on my own."

"Hey Shrimp, you know her or somethin'?" Kuwabara asked, eyeing the fire demon.

"What and who I know is none of your concern." He turned away from the group and walked over to the open window. "I'll be around if something interesting happens, I'm not here to be a body guard."

And with that Hiei disappeared, leaving nothing but his fading energy signature. Kuwabara muttered something about Hiei never being around, but Yusuke paid it no mind as he shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed. He had no idea how he would explain things to Mikai, why wasn't she being truthful with him?

_Get over it Urameshi, it's not like you're bein' completely honest either._

* * *

><p>The rain had picked up since Yusuke's last tromp through it, and, much to his dismay, Kurama's umbrella only covered one person; leave it to Mikai to think of <em>one<em> person. Kuwabara claimed that he had no idea where his umbrellas were, so he and Yusuke were stuck with newspapers and whatever umbrella they could get out of being near Kurama. They made their way back to Mikai's apartment complex in silence, for some reason it seemed that neither one of them had anything to say, nor bring up. When they arrived at Mikai's apartment complex, Yusuke went up the set of stairs with repeated grace, Kurama and Kuwabara following right behind him. As soon as they reached her door, Yusuke knocked and waited.

After a long minute, Mikai opened the door and narrowed her eyes as soon as she saw Yusuke. "And you're back because?"

But before he could give her a sarcastic answer, he caught a glance of what she was wearing: a long sleeved, form fitting black turtleneck, and a pair of dark blue jeans, she had pulled her hair back in a bun with the ends sticking out and her bangs swept to the right, a far cry from her usual get up.

"Damn if I knew you were gonna dress up I would have worn cleaner pants," Yusuke said with a grin.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you want, Yusuke?"

"We've got something to discuss with you, Mikai." Yusuke jerked his head to the two standing behind him. "It's really important."

She grabbed the edge of the door, and for a split second he thought she was going to slam the door in his face but she simply pushed it open further and stepped to the side. "Come on in."

* * *

><p>Mikai remained silent the entire time as Yusuke confessed every detail he could remember from Koenma's mission statement from protecting her to Kubo, to the demon Senkai they were looking for. She said nothing as they sat in the living room floor, her facial expressions never changed and it made Yusuke worry. Was she just going to snap? Cry? Laugh?<p>

When he came to the end of his story, he pointed out that Kurama and Hiei would be helping them, referring to Kurama by his human name; she didn't need to know his past just yet. She made no special gesture at Hiei's name, perhaps she didn't know him but that was a matter for a later day. At the last word, she remained stoic with her arms crossed over her chest and eyes closed.

Finally she cleared her throat and opened her eyes. "So am I supposed to be with one of you at all times?"

"Expect Kuwabara," Yusuke answered as he looked over at the carrot-top. "He's lost his powers."

"What about school?" she asked before Kuwabara could throw an insult in Yusuke's way.

Yusuke paused for a moment, thinking the situation over. "I'll stay outta mine and go with you," he answered with a grin. "It's a great reason to stay outta school."

"I go to an all _girl's_ school," she pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "There's no way you could hang around with me all day. I don't have the grades to transfer to Meiou, but it is close." She paused for a minute and took a deep breath in. "I guess I'll go there when my school lets out and hang out with Shuuichi."

Kurama perked at the mention of his name, and smiled. "That sounds reasonable enough."

"Fine we'll go from there then," Mikai said with a nod of her head. "That's all right, but what about today? Who's staying where?"

"Why where are you going?" Yusuke moved a critical eye up and down her body, still a bit surprised by her outfit. He had never seen her so dressed up before, the only outfit that he had seen her wear other than the casual clothing she usually wore was her school uniform and there was nothing eye catching about that.

"I have to go to dinner with my aunt," Mikai explained as she uncrossed her arms. "She's back from America and wants to catch up with me."

"Aw your aunt?" Yusuke shook his head and sighed. He hated the damn woman, and she felt the same way about him ever since he got caught with her during one of her thieving exploits. She blamed him for the whole thing even though Mikai had three prior charges against her, and it, to put it lightly, drove a wedge between them.

Sharing his sigh, Mikai glanced over at Yusuke as she leaned against the front of the leather chair. "She won't be happy if I bring you to dinner so why don't you just hang around the area?"

"Why wouldn't she be happy?" Kuwabara asked as he came into the conversation. "I thought that—"

Yusuke shot a glare in Kuwabara's direction that ended the carrot-top's sentence. "I remind you later, Kuwabara."

Mikai stood and bowed her head in the direction of the group of boys. "I'm sorry guys but I've got to finish getting ready. Please help yourself to anything in the kitchen while I'm getting ready, I'm sorry that I don't have to time to get you drinks myself. Excuse me."

She stepped around the chair, and walked down the hallway, the sound of a door closing a minute later. Yusuke groaned once he was sure she was no longer in earshot and ran his fingers through his wet hair. He was used to having people he cared about in danger, and this was no different from the time zombies attacked Keiko but Mikai…something was off with her. She had snapped at him earlier, and just seemed so tired. Perhaps healing Kurama had taken more out of her then she was letting on.

Whatever it was, Yusuke was damn sure going to figure it out.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes after sitting around and watching TV, Mikai informed them that she would be leaving for the restaurant to meet her aunt. Kurama and Kuwabara chose to leave early in order to see if Hiei needed any help with fighting and sealing off portals but promised to meet Yusuke near the restaurant if Hiei didn't need their help. Yusuke gave Kurama the device he had given him earlier before the two left, claiming that they would need it more than he would. Ten minutes after they left, Mikai emerged from her room and they departed from her apartment. They walked in silence, an awkward, uneasy silence that irritated the young Spirit Detective but he couldn't think of anything witty or hilarious to say. So they remained quiet the entire time.<p>

When they arrived, Mikai said goodbye to her friend, and entered the high end place. A place that, he would have stuck out like a sore thumb if he had gone in with the young woman. He didn't have anything nice to wear even back at home, but he knew that that wasn't the reason why Mikai had declined his offer of accompanying her.

He shook his head at the thought and sighed loudly, grabbing the attention of a few passing people. "I need something to drink."

The young man pushed himself off of the wall of busy restaurant and crossed the street to a just as busy mini-mart. After standing in line for what felt like forever, he bought his choice of a cherry soda, and left the mini-mart, taking a minute to stand outside and pop open his beverage. The rain had stopped, just how long had he been locked up in that stinkin' store?

_All the more better. I don't wanna be stuck inside all day._

"Hey Urameshi!" Kuwabara called.

Yusuke turned his head to the right and saw Kurama and Kuwabara heading his way, droplets of water still stuck in Kurama's red hair. "Did you find anything?"

"No." Kurama shook his head. He glanced down at the strange reading device he had given to Yusuke the earlier that day. "It seems that Kubo's energy and portals have taken a leave of absence."

The black haired boy raised a brow. "Really? Imagine that."

"He must he on to us," Kurama said as the device in his hand vanished. "He knows that we're watching Mikai. Kubo's most likely going to retreat for a few days to think up another plan."

"Good." Yusuke brought his plastic bottle to his lips and took a long drink. If Kubo knew about them watching Mikai, did that mean that he was also watching them? Yusuke hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary around them, was Kubo watching from some crystal ball or something? "Hopefully we'll great a break from that jackass."

Kurama turned away from the other teen and towards the restaurant where Mikai lay. "We'll just have to keep a careful eye on, Mikai."

"Yeah." Kuwabara sighed and leaned against the mini-mart's brick wall. "Hey Urameshi, have you noticed anything weird with Mikai? She's been acting strange."

So Kuwabara had noticed it as well.

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders and placed the cap back on his soda. "I dunno. She's been snapping at me lately, I don't get what her problem is, I haven't really asked."

_But if we're stuck together until the end of the month I'm sure we'll find out._


End file.
